Please note that EXPGUI
is always under development and gets
less testing by the author
in Windows than in other platforms.
Please report problems, including improvements on
these instructions to
Brian Toby.
Otherwise, Windows-specific issues are unlikely to be addressed or repaired.

Installing GSAS and EXPGUI in Windows

Most users who install
GSAS (General Structure Analysis System)
and
EXPGUI,
will do so by downloading a single file that installs the GSAS programs,
the Tcl/Tk package (with some extensions), the EXPGUI scripts, as well as
makes registry entries & defines shortcuts. This will
be described in brief in the next section of this page.
It is also possible to download and install GSAS, Tcl/Tk & EXPGUI from
separate distributions; please see the
Windows install details web page
for more details.

More information about EXPGUI, including information on how it
can be customized, can be found on web pages expgui.html
and expgui_cfg.html. These files are also
found in the ...\gsas\expgui\doc directory after EXPGUI is installed.

Using the GSAS and EXPGUI self-installer for Windows

You can download a single file that installs
GSAS
and
EXPGUI,
as well as the Tcl/Tk package, needed by EXPGUI. This self-installing
file uncompresses itself, copies the required files
to a selected directory and
creates the appropriate registry entries needed to run the programs.
A
separate web page
provides details a detailed description on this self-installer
(gsas+expgui.exe).
Here are the steps in brief:

Updating to a new GSAS release

It is quite common that Bob Von Dreele will release an update to the
GSAS programs more frequently than the combination gsas+expgui.exe
package can be updated. It is possible to update a previous version of the
GSAS software.
First, make a note where you have installed the GSAS/EXPGUI software.
The default is C:\GSAS, but you can check by looking at the properties for the
PC-GSAS or EXPGUI icon. Second, note the GSAS package date, by
running a GSAS program, such as EXPEDT or SPACEGRP and noting the
date where it says "Distributed on ..."
Then download the latest GSAS release from CCP14:

When you run the downloaded file, you will be asked where the GSAS software
should be installed (with a default of C:\GSAS). Make sure to use the same
location as before.

Finally, check that GSAS has indeed been updated by
again running a GSAS program, such as EXPEDT or SPACEGRP and noting the
date where it says "Distributed on ..."

Updating to a new EXPGUI release

It is also common that new features will be added to EXPGUI or
bug fixes will be made without an update to the
combination gsas+expgui.exe
package.
The absolute latest release (which may not have gotten
a lot of testing)
is distributed as
ftp://ftp.ncnr.nist.gov/pub/cryst/gsas/expgui_alpha.zip.
On the newest versions of Windows, support for .zip files is built in, but
for older versions, you will need an unzip program, such as WinZip or pkZip.

To update EXPGUI,
first, make a note where you have installed the GSAS/EXPGUI software.
The default is C:\GSAS\EXPGUI, but you can check by looking at the
properties for the PC-GSAS or EXPGUI icon.
Second, note the EXPGUI package date, by
using the Help/About menu command in EXPGUI.
You then want to download this file:
is distributed as

and unpack it to subdirectory ...\gsas\expgui\.
Depending how you work with the zip directory, you may want to copy the
files in the .zip archive into the existing gsas\expgui directory or
rename the original expgui in gsas
and then drag the new expgui directory into the gsas folder.
Finally, you can check if the EXPGUI program has been updated, by restarting
it and again using the Help/About menu option.

Problems & Questions

Where can the software be installed?

Do not install the software on a directory containing a space (for example,
C:\Program files\GSAS). This will cause some of the shortcuts to break.

On Windows-95/-98 or -ME, if you install in a location other than C:\GSAS,
you will need to define the GSAS environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
by adding a line like this:

SET GSAS=G:\MySoftware\GSAS

How do I increase the Environment variable space

This is only needed on -95/-98 or -ME.
To add more environment space in Win95/98, add the following line to the
CONFIG.SYS file in the root directory

SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM /P /E:4096

Also add the following line to the SYSTEM.INI file (in c:\windows) under
the heading [NonWindowsApp]

CommandEnvSize=2424

(thanks to Louis Farrugia [louis@chem.gla.ac.uk] for this).

What versions of Windows can I use?

As far as I am aware, EXPGUI will run under all releases of Windows from
-95/-98/-ME/-NT/-2000 through -XP, but it is not tested
here on most of those platforms.
I depend on feedback from users to tell me of OS conflicts, but none have
been reported.

EXPGUI seems pretty slow, or is it my imagination?

Well, actually the problem is Windows. EXPGUI is pretty zippy in LINUX,
but some operations
(reading a histogram in liveplot for example) can take 3-5 times
longer in Windows than in UNIX on the exact same hardware.
By all means, take this up with the folks in Redmond, WA.

When I run one of the GSAS graphics programs (POWPLOT, RAWPLOT,...) the
program starts, and I can answer questions, but when it comes to the part
of the program that should display a plot, I get no plot (and possibly
the DOS window disappears without a trace.)

There are two problems I know of that can cause graphics errors:
One is that the graphics package (PGPLOT) cannot find the PGPLOT_FONT
environment variable (that points to file GRFONT.DAT). EXPGUI does this
for you and warns if it can't find this file, so the likely reason is
that you are out of environment space (see 2, above).

The other appears to be a graphics mode problem. Not all modes work
on all machines. Try mode A. If you still have problems, see if it is an
EXPGUI problem: Try using a plotting program
(RAWPLOT is a good choice) from PC-GSAS or GSAS.BAT. If the plotting
program does not work there either, first check PGPLOT_FONT is defined
(by opening a DOS box and type SET, also see question 2, above.)
If the plotting program runs in PC-GSAS or GSAS.BAT but not EXPGUI, you have a
real EXPGUI bug and should bug me.

Can GSAS and EXPGUI be located on a shared network drive?

Yes. With earlier versions of GSAS path had to be mapped to a
"logical drive." (e.g. F:). In the current versions of GSAS, this does not
seem to be needed, but
EXPGUI will warn you, if you try to do this, since I am not certain
that this works.

I do not know if GSAS will work properly with
experiment and data files on a networked drive without mapping the
path to a "logical drive."
There are some definite problems in GSAS where directory and file
names contain
spaces so EXPGUI generates warning messages if you do this.

Acknowledgements

GSAS
is written by Allen C. Larson and Robert B. Von Dreele, MS-H805,
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545. Problems, questions
or kudos concerning GSAS should be sent to Robert B. Von Dreele at
vondreele@anl.gov

EXPGUI is written by Brian H. Toby of the NIST Center for Neutron Research,
Brian.Toby@ANL.GOV
with help from Jonathan Wasserman.

GSAS is Copyright, 1984-1997, The Regents of the University of California.
The GSAS software was produced under a U.S. Government contract (W-7405-ENG-36)
by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is operated by the University
of California for the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government is
licensed to use, reproduce, and distribute this software. Permission is
granted to the public to copy and use this software without charge, provided
that this notice and any statement of authorship are reproduced on all
copies. Neither the Government nor the University makes any warranty, express
or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this
software.

EXPGUI is not subject to copyright. Have fun with it.

Neither the U.S. Government nor any author makes any warranty,
expressed or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility
for the use of this information or the software described
here. Brand names cited here are used for
identification purposes and do not consitute an endorsement by NIST.